Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Box and Tray Upcycle



I bought a pair of cowboy boots and was impressed at how very sturdy the box and lid were. I made this little tray from the lid. I simply decoupaged with newsprint to even everything out, then I added torn up tissue as the top layer, in shades of purple. The dots are made with my 1" hole punch, I used some tissue paper for that too - giving it a contrasting pattern. This is a perfect little tray to corral all my incense and hookah stuff. It's finished with a little semi gloss varnish so it's water proof enough that it could hold drinks or tea cups if needed.  I used the same treatment to made a little storage box out of an empty soy milk box. I cut it down to size and used up one of the cut off pieces to make a little lid - it's attached with wire. I use it to store extra keys. Next time you get a sturdy little box in your life, think about reusing it for storage or other purposes. These make great Christmas or other gifts!!!

SIDENOTE: Did you know that tissue paper cannot be recycled? It's the paper version of styrofoam - sort of the end of the line. I like to reuse and upcycle tissue as much as possible. 

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Cardboard Tube Flower Decorations




Toilet paper is one of those things I just cannot bring myself to work around in terms of single use - although I have looked into it here. Instead, I'm figuring out ways to use the cardboard tube left. I made these little flower decorations as gift toppers that can be used for Christmas tree decorating too. You can tell just by looking at the picture that I folded the tube, cut little rings and then glued them together with hot glue. I used a single hole punch to make a hole to add a little yarn through so they can hang from a tree, and glued on some embellishments in the middle of some. Pinterest has loads of ideas on how to reuse cardboard tubes, consider keeping them and turning them into art projects!

It's December folks - that time of year that most threatens our commitments to better eating and less consumption!!!!